Great Britain voted on whether or not to stay a part of the European Union on June 23, 2016. The historic Brexit vote has already had far reaching effects on the global economy.

How do you think Brexit will affect the global economy? (Credit: BFM)

Nicknamed “Brexit” for Britain exit, the decision offers a range of research paper topics, from the economic to the political in terms of the vote’s ramifications beyond England and Europe.

In or out?

The oddsmakers had been going back and forth about how Great Britain will vote. In the week leading up to the vote on leaving or staying a part of the European Union the polls were indicating that the country would not be exiting the group. However those polls turned out to be wrong and now Great Britain, the European Union and the rest of the world are left wondering what’s next. Ylan Q. Mui wrote, “‘Brexit’ could send shock waves across U.S. and global economy” on June 18, 2016, for The Washington Post with some predictions.

Mui reported that the International Monetary Fund had “predicted that a Brexit could reduce economic growth by up to 5.6 percent over the next three years in its worst-case scenario.” Stock markets did take a hit in the days following the vote, but have rebounded, although experts do not think the instability is over. As the largest single investor in Great Britain, the United States will be impacted greatly by England’s decision to leave the European Union. Multiple international organizations spoke out against the possibility prior to the vote, including the Bank of England. A research paper could examine how the European Union came to exist in the first place, as well as efforts to replicate the same kind of political and economic coordination in Africa.

Market volatility

While the polls just three days before the vote may have indicated that the majority of Britons would not vote to leave the European Union, the majority of voters did say they wanted out of the EU. The Economist posted “Brexit: taking stock” on June 28, 2016, with some early details of the effect of the vote.

The post stated, “During the first two trading sessions following the referendum, sterling plunged 11%, the biggest drop since the pound floated in 1971.” For an economics class, a research paper topic could look at other historic events that have had the potential to disrupt the global economy in a similar fashion.

How Brexit extends beyond Britain

Not only does Brexit spell bad things for the global economy, it also opens the doors for other countries to leave the European Union. That is one of the major fears of many around the world. In “Preparing an Exit Strategy,” for the May 1, 2016, issue of Global Finance, Vanessa Drucker touched on another important issue, what companies in and out of Great Britain had done in advance of the vote to prepare for the possibility of the Brexit.

“Few firms inside the UK are planning for Brexit, but non UK firms are even less prepared,” Drucker wrote. A research paper could address the ways a company could be preparing for any country to leave the European Union and the ramifications of such an event. Another topic for a research paper could be to examine which other country is most likely to consider leaving the EU like Great Britain has contemplated. Finally, a paper could compare the potential Brexit to Scotland’s recent vote to leave Great Britain.